All Entries Tagged With: "Darryl F. Zanuck"
Joan Valerie
Date of Birth: 15 July 1911 Mini Biography: Born in Wisconsin in 1915, Helen Vlahikis, later known as Joan Valerie soon settles down in Hollywood, where she studied drama at the famous Pasadena Playhouse. Darryl F. Zanuck discovered her there but gave her parts only in B movies, although in pleasant ones. By way of [...]
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Date of Birth: 11 February 1909 Birth Name: Joseph Leo Mankiewicz Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) Mini Biography: Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA’s American distributor at the time (1928). He became a [...]
Mervyn LeRoy
Date of Birth: 15 October 1900 Height: 5′ 7½” (1.71 m) Mini Biography: The great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 was a tragedy for Mervyn Leroy. While he and his father managed to survive, they lost everything they had. To make money, Leroy sold newspapers and entered talent contests as a singer. When [...]
Fidel LaBarba
Date of Birth: 29 September 1905 Height: 5′ 3″ (1.60 m) Mini Biography: Fidel LaBarba was born on September 29th, Bronx New York. Named after St. Fidelis, commonly referred to as “Semper Fidelis” or always faithful in the Catholic religion. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1910 to pursue more gainful employment and to [...]
Mark Hellinger
Date of Birth: 21 March 1903 Mini Biography: Mark Hellinger made his name as a New York theater critic and as one of the first of the nationally known “Broadway columnists”, a craft which his friend Walter Winchell was the most famous practitioner. Born on March 21, 1903, Hellinger was the embodiment of the hard-boiled, [...]
Richard Greene
Date of Birth: 25 August 1918 Mini Biography: Before achieving his greatest fame in the 1950s as television’s Robin Hood, handsome Richard Greene had a significant if largely unremarkable film career, turning in several skilful leading man performances in the late 1930s before becoming type-cast in routine costume adventures. Like his friendly rival, ‘Tyrone Power’, [...]
William Goetz
Date of Birth: 24 March 1903 Mini Biography: William Goetz, a producer and studio boss who revolutionized the industry with the development of the profit participation deal, was born on March 24, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to ship’s purser Theodore Goetz and his wife Fanny. William was the youngest in a brood of eight children [...]
Clark Gable
Date of Birth: 1 February 1901 Birth Name: William Clark Gable Nickname: Gabe The King The King of Hollywood Pa (by Carole Lombard) Height: 6′ 1″ (1.85 m) Mini Biography: Clark Gable’s mother died when he was seven months old. At 16 he quit high school, went to work in an Akron (Ohio) tire factory [...]